I'm gonna be building a new computer very soon, and surprisingly I have went under budget. For the first time in my life I'll be getting a sound card other than Creative, I've chosen the HT OMEGA CLARO 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card. I read a lot about it and it seems really great. Everyone in the reviews has their computers hooked up to nice sound systems, I have a fairly cheap 5.1 logitech system. Its decent for now but I'd like something nicer.

I have a few questions though, this sound card offers both Optical and Coaxial out, I'm the farthest thing from an audiophile, so which is better? Also what exactly do I need to buy, I was told I need a receiver...then speakers? It sounds very confusing. I was also told there are Home Theater in a Box things I can buy, which I may look into, but I'd still like to know my other options and educate myself a little on this topic. Any audiofreaks who can help me out a little bit? This is one if the receivers I was looking at, how do I know what speakers I can buy to hook up to them?

Optical is better, but high quality cables for optical are extremely expensive... For 90% of systems you will find in a retail store, you will not be able to tell a definite difference between the two, especially if you are not an audiophile...

So that being said find the system you like, and then chose the cable depending on length you need, cost and quality of course... In other words if you need 3' either one works great, but if you can get a nice Monster for $30 and a crap optical for $30 don't bother with the optical... If you need a cable longer than 15 ft don't bother with optical, you will need extensions and boosters, where as digital coax will run with a good cable around 250-300 ft.

The Yamaha looks pretty nice and I'd like it, but I don't have cash on hand right now and planned on using the NewEgg Preferred account to make my order, they give me a 2k credit limit. The only HTIB from Yamaha is this thing which doesn't look very attractive, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115073. Are there any on NewEggs site you'd recommend? And thanks for the info thus far.

Right now I'm looking at this one from Sony, and this one from Samsung. As I keep mentioning I know nothing of this stuff, when I look at the two I see same price but the Samsung looks more attractive to me. Are there any differences between these two that an experienced person would see and easily choose one over the other?

Right now I'm looking at this one from Sony, and this one from Samsung. As I keep mentioning I know nothing of this stuff, when I look at the two I see same price but the Samsung looks more attractive to me. Are there any differences between these two that an experienced person would see and easily choose one over the other?

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Personally I would buy the Samsung... I have had one of their units in the past for a small apartment, sold it to a friend who has a big house with a very large living room, works great, sounds good.. Sony makes nice units but you pay a nice premium for the name.

So that being said personally if you like the looks of the Samsung more I would buy that one.

Buy your optical cables off e-bay, they used to have a guy importing the monsters without a label and they were much cheaper. I got a 5 strand 30' poly cable for about $60 shipped.

With optical what matters is multi-strand, plastic, poly, or glass, and if it is gated, as well as being bendable. So long as the stream is without faults the cable is just as good as any other. It is flashes of light, not intensity that matters, so if the light makes it, it works. But higher quality multi strand cables will perform better for longer.

Buy your optical cables off e-bay, they used to have a guy importing the monsters without a label and they were much cheaper. I got a 5 strand 30' poly cable for about $60 shipped.

With optical what matters is multi-strand, plastic, poly, or glass, and if it is gated, as well as being bendable. So long as the stream is without faults the cable is just as good as any other. It is flashes of light, not intensity that matters, so if the light makes it, it works. But higher quality multi strand cables will perform better for longer.

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Thats not exactly true, light is an energy source, and plastic/poly cables are not capable of performing with the extreme little amount of distortion that glass will do in high quality cables... But in top end glass cables you pay blood and there is no bending so they are not very popular by all means.

Interesting, as of now I'm gonna go with the Samsung, but now I'm a little confused about what kind of cable I need. The sound card actually comes with an optical cable that seems to get the approval of the NewEgg reviewers. I read in one of the earlier posts if its short length it doesnt matter much? I'll probably have the receiver right next to my computer tower.

Interesting, as of now I'm gonna go with the Samsung, but now I'm a little confused about what kind of cable I need. The sound card actually comes with an optical cable that seems to get the approval of the NewEgg reviewers. I read in one of the earlier posts if its short length it doesnt matter much? I'll probably have the receiver right next to my computer tower.

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If you are not an audiophile and are not spending major $$ on a system don't worry about it. The cable that comes with it will do plenty more than enough for you.

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On the topic that HTIB isn't exactly great for the cost-
He is looking at a $250 system that will handle everything here, is very easy to setup, he can order it from newegg, and is very well balanced.... A quality system has nothing to do with what you can shake, I can shake my roof trusses loose from my house for $200, a single 12" sub, a box I would build and a crappy cheap 100-150 watt amp.

*I do mean that in a very literal way, shake the roof trusses loose from the house, as in replace the roof because over time at high spl levels and 15hz bass notes it will literally vibrate the nails in the roof to the point they get loose in the boards they are nailed to.*

*PS- it was done before in a very large house within a few weeks with 4 12" sub woofers in very large cabinets and a single 300 watt mono amplifier to power them at near whisper volumes, of course playing bass notes around 8-10hz, the speakers will produce accurately down to 4hz.*

My uncle after 5 weeks had his roof replaced with sound dampening material and screws used with brackets on the trusses to replace the nails, this fixed the issue.

I like ONKYO would of prefured a SONY or Marantz just that option was not available at the time.

Best thing to do is to visit Hi Fi shops in your area as what sound some one likes might be totaly differant from yours.

By the way my Optical cable cost $15 from Radio Shack made by Monster it's been just fine. Although i would not by Monster coax cables as i find that they strangle the sound.
Radio Shack do cheap ONKYO and SONY if they be good enough for you demand that be up to your ears.

If it was going to be worth it, I'd be willing to spend up to about 500 or 600. Using only products from NewEgg, since I'm making use of the credit they give me, what would you audiophiles buy from there to setup a nice system instead of a $300 HTIB? Just curious and would like more options =)